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Don Peat, Toronto Sun

May 16, 2014

, Last Updated: 3:50 PM ET

TORONTO - Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti came out Thursday accusing Mayor Rob Ford of being high on drugs when he called him a "Gino boy" more than a decade ago.

In a lengthy podcast interview with former 102.1 the Edge host Dean Blundell, Mammoliti goes on to claim Ford - a city councillor at the time he hurled the slur back in March 2002 - was crying and in the "fetal position" in then-mayor Mel Lastman's office after the incident.

Ford - who has admitted to smoking crack cocaine, buying illegal drugs and having a problem with alcohol - has been on leave since April 30 and his family claims he has been in rehab for his drinking since May 1.

"I don't know the real Rob Ford," Mammoliti told Blundell. "I think he has been an addict for quite some time.

"I've always known that he had an addiction."

Mammoliti has been a Ford ally during this term of council despite clashing with the mayor during past council terms including the "Gino boy" incident back in 2002.

"When he called me a Gino boy he was high on something," Mammoliti alleged. "My view is today is I think it was consistent to the crack or some of the harder stuff."

After he complained to city officials and the media about the "Gino boy" comment, Mammoliti claimed Ford "started crying" and went to Mayor Lastman's office.

"Lastman told me he was pretty out of control in his office and moved to a fetal position in the office," Mammoliti said.

"Nobody has ever known this story except Mel Lastman."

Lastman denied that Ford was in the fetal position.

"He was never in a curled, in a fetal position with anything," Lastman told the Sun Friday.

Mammoliti said he's speaking about Ford publicly now because the mayor confessed to him that he has a "binging problem."

"He also admitted to me, 'When I binge I do stupid things,'" Mammoliti said.

"Our mayor has an issue, he's got to get well."

The York West (Ward 7) councillor also claimed he once spoke to an "addict" who lived in his ward that claimed to have information on Ford - who was still a councillor at the time.

"(He) gave me details in terms of where I could find him and how high he would be," Mammoliti said. "He wanted $5,000 for him to give me that information."

Mammoliti said he didn't pay for the information.

"I'm not that type of guy, I just won't do that stuff," he said.

The veteran councillor also claimed he knows councillors who smoke marijuana but he refused to name them.

"You can just tell by the way they act at times," Mammoliti said.

He denied he uses drugs.

"I don't have to worry about myself, you can test my blood anytime you want to see how many drugs are in there or take my snippets of hair," Mammoliti said. "At the end of the day, I don't have to worry about that but there are members of council that do."

Asked if he thinks Mayor Ford will come back from rehab and continue to run for re-election, Mammoliti doubted it.